Landlord/Tenant Notices

By Jud Gray of The Gray Law Firm P.S. posted in Real Estate on Tuesday, April 7, 2015.

3-Day Pay or Vacate Notice: This notice is given by a landlord to a tenant when rent is overdue. A landlord does not have to accept a late rent payment after the 3-day time limit is up. The 3-day notice must spell out how much rent is owed, but it may not include non-rent items, those types of charges should be on a ten-day notice to comply or vacate.

10-Day Comply or Vacate Notice: This notice is for violations of the terms of the rental agreement other than non-payment of rent. Landlords must include specific violations and what must be done to cure the violations. Examples of typical violations cited in 10-day notices are: excessive noise, destruction of property, unauthorized pets, unauthorized occupants, failure to pay utilities, and failure to pay deposits. Typically, it may take a number of 10-day comply or vacate notices to show the court that tenants should be evicted, but circumstances play a role.

20-Day Notice to Terminate Tenancy: This notice may only be used to terminate a month-to-month tenancy, not an unexpired lease. Unlike the notices mentioned above, the tenant need not have done anything to deserve receiving this notice, it is simply the landlord's right to repossess the property from a month-to-month tenant as long as the tenant is given the required notice. The date of termination is not twenty days from the date of service. Rather, the date of termination is the last day of a rental period (typically a calendar month) and must be served at least twenty days in advance. As with the aforementioned notices, when the tenant has not vacated by the date specified on the notice, the landlord can begin eviction proceedings.

All notices must be properly served, no matter what type of notice it is. There are three acceptable means to serve a notice on a tenant:

1. Delivering a copy personally to each adult occupant; or

2. Substitute service on some person of suitable age, copies for each adult occupant AND mailing a copy to each adult occupant; or

3. If neither a tenant nor a person of suitable age and discretion is present then affixing enough copies for each adult occupant in a conspicuous place on thepremises AND mailing a copy each adult occupant.

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Contact

The Gray Law Firm P.S. serves clients in real estate law and elder law issues in Tacoma and Federal Way, Washington. Attorney Judson C. Gray provides legal services to clients in the Tacoma area, including Pierce County, Thurston County, King County, Kitsap County, and the communities of Auburn, Port Orchard, Seattle, Bellevue, Kent, University Place, Lakewood, Olympia, Lacey and Brevard.